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Offense Rules in First Playoff Win
Strong Third Period Offsets Spotty Defense
2/26/10 – Minnesota 8, Minnesota State-Mankato 5
The postseason is all about winning. In their postseason opener, Minnesota (23-7-5, 18-6-4 WCHA) accomplished that mission with a 8-5 victory over Minnesota State-Mankato (7-21-5, 5-18-5 WCHA).
“Maybe not the way that we had planned on having our first game of playoffs, but we came out with a ‘W’, so that’s what matters,” junior wing Laura May said.
May and her center, Becky Kortum, led the way with a goal and two assists apiece, while line mate Chelsey Jones added the gamewinner.
Having squandered several leads along the way, the Gophers came out for the final period with the score knotted at 5-5. Jones volleyed Michelle Maunu’s shot out of the air and into the Maverick net with 3:32 elapsed. It was the senior’s second consecutive game-winning goal.
“We’ve been talking a lot about how we need to improve, being the only line that really got to stay together throughout the whole year,” May said.
Their improvement has frequently bettered the Minnesota fortunes as well of late. Kortum picked up the puck off a face off in the Mankato end 4 minutes later and beat Paige Thunder on the short side for some insurance.
“Today I felt like I had my legs; I thought I was moving pretty good,” Kortum said. “My line as a whole, we played really well together. We just tried to set the tempo for the team, and kept going hard to the net.”
Alexandra Zebro put the game out of reach with her first goal of the year with Jones providing a screen in front for the final 8-5 margin.
“We’ve just been keeping at it, and I think it’s starting to go for us,” May said.
Minnesota appeared to have things going their way earlier, but 2-0, 3-1, 4-2, and 5-3 leads all proved short lived. Inspired play by MSU and sloppy defense by the hosts made for a doubtful welcome back from the Olympics for goaltender Noora Räty.
A day after backstopping Team Finland to a bronze medal, Räty found herself besieged throughout a second period she described as “brutal”, as the Gophers were outscored 4-2.
“We gave up tap-ins that we haven’t given up in quite some time,” Coach Brad Frost said.
Räty routinely denies such quality scoring chances, but fresh off the emotional highs of the Olympics and with her father viewing a game in Ridder for the first time all season, the contest was far from routine.
“I felt bad for her,” Frost said. “I wouldn’t consider any of those goals fault on her.”
“It was so hard to prepare mentally,” Räty said. “I just want to go there and play and give the team a chance for a win. Just have fun out there.”
“This is just like a family for me, and I just love to play here. I was so pumped to get back and see all those girls.”
Luckily, Minnesota brought some jump on the offensive end, especially Kortum’s line.
“I thought it was her best game of the year,” Frost said. “Not just because she scored that goal in the third, but on May’s goal, she was the reason, driving to the net, taking two players, screening.”
With each game, the freshman center is looking more like the player who won the state’s Ms. Hockey award as a high school senior last year.
“I think she got through the first half, and now she’s really opening up, and we’re loving what we’re getting out of her now,” May said.
Mira Jalosuo fired in her first goal of the season. Sam Downey, Emily West, and Sarah Erickson also found the back of the net.
The Gophers are a win away from reaching the WCHA Final Face-Off.
“One game down, and another one to go, and hopefully, we can advance tomorrow,” Frost said.
Game two of the series is at 4:07 P.M. on Saturday in Ridder Arena.
| | Minnesota Endures Longest Game in Program History
West Notches Gamewinner in Third Overtime
2/27/10 – Minnesota 4, Minnesota State-Mankato 3 – 3OT
Minnesota State-Mankato fought to extend their season another day. The Gophers were equally determined to end the quarterfinal series in two games and advance to the WCHA Final Face-Off.
When the teams faced off on Saturday, nobody could have guessed that it would take over one hundred minutes of hockey to decide which team would ultimately get their way.
Emily West fired in a wrist shot at 1:16 of the third OT to gain a 4-3 win for Minnesota (24-7-5, 18-6-4 WCHA).
“Just threw it low left and it went in,” West said. “Pretty happy to have that one over with after three overtimes.”
West had picked up the puck after Anne Schleper’s shot rebounded off of the endboards, one of four assists Schleper had on the day.
“I think if anything, my legs were happy to have it done,” Schleper said.
Long before, Moira O’Connor had scored her second goal of the game at 2:47 of the third period to lift the Mavericks (7-22-5, 5-18-5 WCHA) into a 3-3 tie.
Then Minnesota’s Noora Räty and MSU’s Alli Altmann matched save for save for over 58 minutes as their offenses searched for a decisive goal.
“I thought we carried the play often times in the overtimes and had some great chances, but it just took a long time to have that one finally go in,” Coach Brad Frost said. “Noora made some great saves as we needed her to in overtime.”
Räty finished with 41 saves, a career high, in improving to 16-2-4 on the year. She also garnered her third assist of the season, a new high-water mark for Minnesota goalies.
Kelli Blankenship had broken clear to give the Gophers a short-lived 3-2 lead in the final seconds of the second period. Minnesota also got powerplay goals from Megan Bozek on a 5-on-3 onetimer, and Brittany Francis.
Early on, the game seemed to lack playoff intensity.
“I felt like we had more jump as the game went on versus at the beginning,” Frost said.
“Positive talk on the bench helped us,” Schleper said. “I think that kept our motivation going and our energy and our drive to just keep going out there every shift.”
Extra motivation came from the knowledge that a win on Saturday would earn the team a day off on Sunday.
“That’s what we were saying – we don’t want to be here tomorrow, we shouldn’t be here tomorrow,” West said. “I think that really paid off for us.”
Frost is hoping that the nail-biting finish will pay dividends down the road.
“I don’t think it hurts us in any way, since especially we came out with the win,” he said. “They’ve now been in a situation where they’re in an overtime game, or two, or three overtimes, and not many teams have that same experience. If we ever get to it again, we’ll have that to lean on.”
Minnesota next hosts the Final Face-Off at Ridder, with the first semifinal starting at noon on Saturday. | | UMD Downs Bemidji State 7-3
Top-Seeded Bulldogs Face Gophers in Sunday's Championship
3/6/2010 - Minnesota-Duluth 7, Bemidji State 3
Laura Fridfinnson scored just 24 seconds into the game, Minnesota-Duluth expanded the lead to 3-0 by the first intermission on two rebound goals, and the Bulldogs (27-8-2) were never seriously challenged in defeating Bemidji State 7-3.
The Beavers (12-19-7) struggled against the speed and quickness of UMD’s top line of Fridfinnson, Emmanuelle Blais, and Katie Wilson, who wound up with 6 goals and 8 assists between them, led by Blais’ 2 goals and 4 assists.
Coach Shannon Miller was happy with her team’s play as they built a 6-1 lead after two periods, but thought they stopped doing things that had made them successful as BSU drew within 6-3 in the third period. She hopes for a full 60-minute effort in the championship game. | | Minnesota Advances to WCHA Championship Game
May Provides Latest Sudden Victory
3/6/10 – Minnesota 5, Ohio State 4 – 2OT
Perhaps it should have surprised no one that the Gophers and Buckeyes needed more than 60 minutes to resolve their WCHA semifinal game.
Minnesota (25-7-5, 18-6-4 WCHA) had played an overtime game in each of its previous three series. Ohio State (17-15-5, 12-13-3 WCHA) required bonus hockey for its last three games. There is no time-and-a-half pay for extra work, so these people must love their jobs.
Laura May ended the proceedings in the Gophers’ favor at 3:31 of the second overtime session, providing the final lead change in her team’s 5-4 victory.
“That whole play is just a blur right now,” May said. “I believe [Becky] Kortum put it on net for the first shot; (OSU goalie Chelsea Knapp) made a great save. [Chelsey] Jones was right there for the rebound; again she made a great save. I was lucky enough to be standing in front of an empty net, and I put it away.”
At numerous points in the first OT, the game seemed on the verge of ending. Laura McIntosh hit the pipe for the Buckeyes; Jones clanked a shot off the crossbar at the other end. Jones even floated the puck over Knapp and into the net at one point, but video review indicated that the puck was directed into the net with a hand, nullifying the goal.
The extra hockey came on the heels of a tumultuous final 8:05 of regulation. Kelli Blankenship scored off a blocked shot to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead, only to have Raelyn LaRocque answer back a scant 12 seconds later.
Natalie Spooner put the Buckeyes up 3-2 at 16:45 on a brilliant solo effort while shorthanded.
“She was turning our D inside out at times,” Gopher coach Brad Frost said. “She’s a great player; there’s a reason she was on the (All-WCHA) First team.”
Another Buckeye was sent to the penalty box, and Brittany Francis converted at 17:25.
“It was a 5-on-3, so it’s my spot to be in the middle,” Francis said. “We do practice that quite a bit, going down to [Emily West] and up to me or across to Sarah [Erickson].”
It was the senior captain’s second goal of the game, having scored Minnesota’s first goal on a second-period power play.
With the teams skating 4-on-4, Anne Schleper sniped a wrist shot under the crossbar for a 4-3 Minnesota lead with under a minute and a half remaining.
“Sometimes it’s tough to just look past all of those players in front of you, but I knew I had a lane, and I knew that (Knapp’s) habit was to go down,” Schleper said. “So I just kept that in mind, and knew that I had players if there was a rebound.”
But OSU pulled their goalie while on a final power play and scored with a 6-on-4 skater advantage at 19:42 to tie the game at 4-4.
“After a couple periods of not many goals, the floodgates opened both ways in the third,” Frost said. “We had an opportunity to win that game in regulation and penalty problems got to us a little bit.”
It’s not the first time that penalties have proven costly to the Gophers, and it’s something that they need to consider as they face Minnesota-Duluth for the WCHA Final Face-Off championship.
“If we’re stupid and take penalties that we shouldn’t, like we did (in Dulth) at times after the incident, then we’re probably not going to win the hockey game,” Frost said. “So it’s about getting out and two very good teams playing their best hockey, and I imagine no player is going to want to put their team in a bad spot in a championship game.”
The Buckeyes saw their season come to a heartbreaking end. Spooner and Paige Semenza credited senior captains LaRocque and Rachel Davis with inspiring the team to keep battling back in this game and throughout the season. With 20 players returning, Coach Jackie Barto expects good things ahead for her team.
UMD and Minnesota don’t have to wait long for their future, as face off for the championship game is scheduled for 12:07 P.M. at Ridder Arena.
“I think it’s exciting every time we play Duluth, and it’s just going to make it that much more exciting because we’re playing for a championship,” Francis said. | | Bulldogs Drop Gophers, Take WCHA Title
Early Hole Proves Too Deep
3/7/10 – Minnesota-Duluth 3, Minnesota 2
Minnesota knew that they had to maintain their composure heading into Sunday’s WCHA championship game versus Minnesota-Duluth. That proved easier said than done, as the Gophers (25-8-5, 18-6-4 WCHA) took three penalties in the first two minutes, lost the momentum, and spent much of the opening period pinned in their own end and being outshot 13-5.
The Bulldogs (28-8-2, 20-6-2 WCHA) jumped to a 2-0 lead on an unassisted goal by Jessica Wong and an Emmanuelle Blais powerplay goal.
“We got in that penalty trouble, and that didn’t help, so we were playing the same group of kids there in some pretty tough situations four-on-threes, five-on-threes,” Coach Brad Frost said. “I looked up at the clock at least halfway through the period, I don’t think we had a shot yet, and we were on the PK for most of it.”
Coming off the emotional high of a double-overtime win the day before, Minnesota wanted to be the team that got off to a fast start.
“That’s a fine line that we kind of need to figure out, because we were pumped up, we were ready to go,” captain Brittany Francis said. “The first period, I guess we took it a little too far.”
Francis helped the Gophers climb back into the contest when she set up Sarah Erickson with a goal-mouth feed. Erickson scored both Minnesota goals on the day with Francis assisting both times.
“We knew pucks were going to go in if we get shots on net,” Erickson said. “That’s what we talked about coming into the game – shoot, shoot, shoot, and get your bodies to the net while you do. That’s going to be our main focus here coming into the rest of the playoffs is get the puck to the net.”
Erickson’s goals twice halved two-goal deficits, pulling the Gophers within 3-2 late in the second period, but they couldn’t find the net once more to gain a tie.
Audrey Cornoyer scored a pivotal goal to put UMD ahead 3-1 at 11:21 of the middle frame.
“We just let them gain the zone too easily, and she takes a nice, quick shot from the hash marks, it ramps off our D’s stick, and Noora [Räty] doesn’t have time to react,” Frost said.
UMD claimed their fourth WCHA tournament title.
“Well obviously, it was a great game,” Bulldog coach Shannon Miller said. “Two very good teams going head to head, and going end to end hockey. It was great hockey, it was a fast game, a physical game.”
Minnesota now looks ahead to the start of the NCAA tournament. They will host Clarkson at 4 P.M. on Saturday. The Golden Gophers and Golden Knights met in a series earlier this season, with Minnesota taking 4-0 and 2-0 decisions.
“I’m looking forward to next week,” Erickson said. “I’d like to obviously see us advance and win a national championship, and that’s all I’m worried about right now.”
| | West Rescues Gophers as They Defeat Knights in OT
3-Point Effort Including Gamewinner Lifts Minnesota
3/13/2010 - Minnesota 3, Clarkson 2 - OT
When playing in the NCAA tournament, it is win or go home. For the Gophers this season, it became a case of winning so they could stay at home. They accomplished that task, but not without some drama.
“This team has had a lot over their heads from the day that it was announced that we would be hosting the Frozen Four,” Coach Brad Frost said. “I think all of us as a staff and our players look at it as a real privilege and a real opportunity to be able to host it, and now to be able to play in it.”
Everything was going according to plan for Minnesota (26-8-5, 18-6-4 WCHA), the team making their 8th NCAA tournament appearance versus an opponent in Clarkson getting a first taste of the Dance. The Gophers led 2-0 as the third period neared its halfway point and looked to be on their way to a comfortable victory.
Not so fast. The Golden Knights (23-11-5, 14-5-3 ECAC) wanted to prolong the experience, storming back with two goals to force sudden death.
“It seems like we’re in the entertainment business and continue to give our ticketholders extra hockey,” Frost said.
For the fifth consecutive weekend, Minnesota played an overtime game.
Unfortunately for Clarkson, it was the Knights’ season that ended abruptly when junior captain Emily West grabbed a turnover, marched in on goalie Lauren Dahm, and tucked the puck inside the post.
“I picked up the puck and saw more space than I wanted, and I just tried to take advantage of it,” West said. “I knew that I had been shooting all night low left, and thought maybe she would bite on that and just try and sneak it in.”
Brittany Francis, the other wing on Minnesota’s top line, forced the turnover with an aggressive forecheck.
Frost wasn’t surprised that it was West who sealed the deal.
“Past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior,” he said.
The goal was West’s national-best tenth gamewinner.
Clarkson tied the contest at 2-2 at 18:16 of the third period, on a Juana Baribeau blast from center ice that found the top corner on Noora Räty. It was the kind of shot nobody expects to go in, especially against a goalie of Räty’s caliber.
“There’s nobody in the rink that felt worse than her,” Frost said of is star frosh.
“If there’s one player who doesn’t ever have to say ‘sorry’, it’s her.”
The Knight’s had gained the position to tie the game on one shot when Melissa Waldie converted a feed from Britney Selina after a Gopher defenseman got caught up ice. Carlee Eusepi also earned an assist.
“Brit Selina picked it up and I came off the bench,” Waldie said. “It was a 2-on-1 and she made a good play, a pass right on the tape.”
The outcome was suddenly in doubt, and both teams knew it.
“It got us going; everyone was excited,” Waldie said. “I think it gave us momentum.”
Francis opened the scoring on a first-period powerplay. She was carrying the puck toward the net, Courtney Olson of the Knights went down to block her pass, and deflected it in on the short side. West and Megan Bozek assisted.
“It was somewhat of a gift,” Francis said of the bounce, but she pointed to the hard work that set up the play.
Clarkson looked to have tied the game at 1-1 on their own power play in the second period, but after review, the goal was waved off.
“The referee was pretty adamant that it was pretty clear that it was kicked in,” Clarkson co-head coach Matt Desrosiers said.
Instead, West upped the lead to 2-0 when Sarah Erickson’s shot bounced to her off of Dahm’s pad, and West slid the rebound into the open goal. It was one of the few times the Gophers had a good look at the net.
“In November we just stood around and almost gave them too much respect,” co-head coach Shannon Desrosiers said. “This time, we talked about being aggressive, get in their face, get on them, play our style of game, and I think it threw them off a little bit.”
West was the player for which the Knights had no solution, particularly in OT.
“She definitely made a good play,” Shannon Desrosiers said. “She’s a solid player, probably one of the top in the country.”
Clarkson took some satisfaction from advancing to the tournament for the first time and giving a good battle.
“I think it is going to prepare us for next year,” Waldie said. “It got a lot of us ready. We’re losing a bunch of really great seniors, but I think we have a good group coming in. We’ll come in on a high note next year.”
But before thinking of next year, Clarkson can reflect on a wonderful season.
“It’s definitely a huge step for the program,” Matt Desrosiers said. “It’s come a long way in a pretty short time.”
Minnesota prepares for the program’s seventh trip to the Frozen Four and a semifinal date with the Bulldogs of Minnesota-Duluth.
“There’s nothing better than an opportunity to play for a national championship in your own building,” West said. | | Cornell Defeats Mercyhurst to Reach the Championship
White’s Goal in OT Is the Difference
3/19/2010 – Cornell 3, Mercyhurst 2 - OT
Catherine White scored Cornell’s third rebound goal of the game at 13:14 of over time to get the Big Red (21-8-6, 14-2-6 ECAC) into their first NCAA championship game.
“I just put it right through her legs,” White said.
The sophomore center said, she knew the puck was going into the net, but she added a little prayer just in case.
This was the fourth time that Mercyhurst (30-3-3, 14-1-1 CHA) saw an NCAA tournament run end in overtime.
Karlee Overguard made the overtime necessary when she deposited a rebound of a Jess Martino shot Pattenden at 7:06 of the third period to draw Cornell even at 2-2.
First year defenseman Lauriane Rougeau said the goal gave her team a huge lift, and she was screaming in celebration on the bench.
The Lakers had grabbed a 2-1 lead at 10:38 of the second period as Kylie Rosler and Meghan Corbett scored goals less than two minutes apart. Rosler chipped the puck over Amanda Mazzotta’s attempted poke check for the first tally, then fed a wide-open Corbett on the weak side for the second.
The Big Red surprised Mercyhurst in the opening frame and had a number of quality scoring chances, but only Laura Fortino on a rebound was able to convert.
Coach Doug Derraugh said the Lakers are very similar to Harvard, the opponent Cornell defeated in its NCAA quarterfinal by a 6-2 score. Against both team’s the Big Red’s plan was to get the puck behind their aggressive forecheck to generate offensive chances.
“Got to give our team credit,” Derraugh said. “They managed to keep coming and coming.” | | Gophers Season Ends in National Semifinal
Bulldogs Bounce Minnesota for 4th Straight Time
3/19/10 – Minnesota-Duluth 3, Minnesota 2
The line between winning and losing can be very fine and hard to distinguish. Apparently when Minnesota faces Minnesota-Duluth, that divide is also very real, because the Gophers (26-9-5, 18-6-4 WCHA) keep winding up on the wrong side of the score.
All six head-to-head meetings between the two branches of the University of Minnesota became races to three goals, and the Bulldogs (30-8-2, 20-6-2 WCHA) won the last four of those races. UMD triumphed 3-2 Friday night in the national semifinal before 2,070 fans.
“I think getting the first goal was huge, but we started the game with a lot of confidence,” Coach Shannon Miller said.
The Bulldogs were able to get on the board first despite being out shot 13-7 in the opening period.
“It was a wraparound,” Laura Fridfinnson said. “[Emmanuelle Blais] shot it on net, and the goalie came out to play her, so I just took it behind the net and wrapped it around and got it in.”
Just as key was the goal that enabled UMD to take a 3-1 lead into the locker room for the second intermission. Blais scored off of a pass from Fridfinnson at 19:15, less than two minutes after Sarah Erickson got the Gophers on the scoreboard and halved Duluth’s 2-0 lead.
“It was a great pass,” Blais said. “Obviously, it was good for us to just come back right away after their goal, and especially just at the end of the second.”
Blais, who also scored UMD’s second goal, finished with two goals and an assist. Line mate Fridfinnson added a goal and two helpers.
The Gophers spent the entire final period trying to close the gap once more. They finally pulled their goalie in the final minute and got an extra-attacker goal from Emily West. West batted the puck out of midair and past Jennifer Harss with 55 seconds to go. Harss prevented any additional offense by Minnesota as she did most of the night in saving 27 shots, and the clock ran out on a 3-2 win for UMD.
“I thought [Harss] was remarkable tonight,” Miller said. “She’s gotten better and better through the course of the season.”
So have the Bulldogs.
“Their transition game is second to none,” Erickson said.
Those quick transition strikes often forced Minnesota to pay on the scoreboard for the smallest of miscues.
“There was no doubt in our mind we could win this game; we just didn’t,” Erickson said.
Minnesota Coach Brad Frost said that the hardest part of losing is that “the season comes to an abrupt ending.”
They bow out knowing they fought to the end.
“From a player’s point of view, I think they played amazing the whole game,” Blais said of her opponent. “It’s very hard; I’m absolutely exhausted right now.”
For the ‘Dogs, it continues against Cornell on Sunday at noon in Ridder Arena.
“We haven’t played against them, so it’s kind of exciting to have a new opponent,” Fridfinnson said.
Despite the Big Red’s brief NCAA history, Miller expects a battle on Sunday.
“Anybody that’s here is a great team,” she said. “I’m not worried about a letdown at all. It doesn’t matter who we play, we have to bring our absolute best game, and that’s the bottom line.”
| | UMD Wins 5th NCAA Championship
Wong Scores Winner in 3OT Victory over Cornell
3/21/2010 –UMD 3, Cornell 2 - 3OT
Jessica Wong deflected a Tara Gray shot by Cornell goalie Amanda Mazzotta at 19:26 of the third overtime to give Minnesota-Duluth their fifth NCAA National Collegiate Championship in ten years.
At 119:26, the game was the longest in championship game history.
“It was a great game,” Cornell Coach Doug Derraugh said. “I want to congratulate [UMD coach] Shannon [Miller] and Minnesota-Duluth. They went out, and they took it. They deserved to win.”
The Bulldogs (31-8-2, 20-6-2 WCHA) went 17-1 in the second half of the season, after being only 13-7-2 at the break.
“My strength coach told me that these guys listened and that they had a great work ethic and if you have that in the beginning, you know you're going to accomplish some great things through the course of the season and it'll just take some time,” Miller said.
The winning goal came just six seconds after the end of a Bulldog powerplay, the first penalty called since each team was assessed one early in the first overtime. Lauriane Rougeau came out of the penalty box and challenged Gray’s shot from behind, but she was not able to fully tie up the UMD defenseman’s stick.
“She took a shot and there was traffic in front of the net,” Big Red defenseman Laura Fortino said. “There’s not much you can do about that. We just tried clearing sticks, and it went in.”
Fortino wound up on the ice for the entire penalty kill and beyond, not having the legs to get to the bench even when Cornell managed to clear the puck after logging a ton of ice time.
Mariia Posa also had an assist on Wong’s goal.
“I just went in front of the net,” Wong said. “Coach always says get two in front of the net and double screen.”
Melanie Jue tied the game for Cornell (21-9-6, 14-2-6 ECAC) at 2-2, making the equivalent of a second game necessary, when she scored at 16:30 of the final period with Fortino and Karlee Overguard picking up assists.
"She's somebody who has come up with a lot of big goals for us all year long,” Derraugh said.
Trailing 1-0 coming into the third period, the Bulldogs forged a 2-1 lead on the strength of two powerplay goals. Emmanuelle Blais picked up her own blocked shot and got a shot over Mazzotta just 18 seconds into the period for her 32nd goal of the season.
“I think that this year, we’ve had to come back in a lot of games,” Blais said.
Blais, playing her final game for the ‘Dogs, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
When Jaime Rasmussen got open on the weak side and found the net with just over five minutes to go, it looked like UMD had all the goals that they were going to need.
The Big Red got on the board first with a power play goal with 6:36 remaining in the second period. Rougeau got off a slap shot that Jue deflected past Jennifer Harss after UMD had survived a 5-on-3 skater disadvantage. Fortino earned the second assist.
Cornell played in their first NCAA tournament after not having a winning season since 1998.
“The group of seniors that we have, they're four people that you can't replace,” Mazzotta said. “They did amazing things for us this year. When you see where they came from their freshman year to where we got them to now, it's too bad we couldn't get the win tonight, but it's been an incredible team and an incredible season.”
Mazzotta, who finished with 61 saves, was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Big Red teammates Fortino and Rougeau. All of the forwards on the team came from UMD, as Laura Fridfinnson and Wong joined Blais.
Jennifer Harss earned her 29th win in her rookie campaign by turning aside 49 shots.
For Saara Touminen, the game capped a month-long stretch in which she led Team Finland to a bronze medal at the Olympics, then returned to Duluth to captain UMD to WCHA and NCAA titles.
“This year is a like a dream coming true,” she said. “It’s been a busy month, but it’s been an amazing year.”
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